I’ve been following Colin Bell’s webcomics for a little while now – his previous work includes Jonbot Vs Martha – and his newest webcomic is a beaut. Written by Matthew Meylikhov and Bell, the strip is drawn by Nina Cadman and tells the story of a noir detective who is also a kittykat. He swears space helmet and worries about dames! If only Tumblr were around in the 1950s, they’d be all over this.

Cadman goes for a cartoony style which helps to underline the difference between the seriousness of the storyline and the silliness of the characters involved. The creative team go all-in with the noir storyline – giving protagonist Space a drinking problem, tendency to start bar fights, and crapsack town to live in.

Mixing noir and space allows for a silly sense of fun in the comic, but it’s the exaggeration that makes the strip work. Every idea or detail is ramped up to a ridiculous degree – the narration doubles up on sarcastic irony so that the strip actively questions itself (a step beyond anything Chandler would’ve tried). Rather than making fun of noir stories, it makes fun of ITSELF for making fun of noir stories. But also, it makes fun of noir stories.